A Beautiful Journey-Part 3
Nov. 9th. Wow. I am finally feeling like I am settled. A move can be quite the experience. Push, push, push for so many months. Sell, have a dismal garage sale that required so much work. Sell all your equipment from your business. Fill a 30 yard garbage dumpster with stuff because no one wanted it. Pack, sell, move. All the details that go into moving across the country-there is way too much to list.
Perhaps you have been there. Perhaps you have done that with young children. It was just the two of us packing up the home we raised our four children in, but we also had two businesses we had to close. After all was said and done, we ended up with a 16 foot truck and even had room to spare. Everything else was given away or sold.
One of the Best Parts
For me, the best thing about this whole move is having a small apartment that we do not have to do anything for! I do not have to fix anything. I do not have to paint, buy carpet, buy a water heater or anything else that comes with home ownership. All I have to do is make a "request for maintenance", and they come out and take care of it. What a relief for me. My former residence had three full bathrooms, a huge family room, 4 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room,living room, an extra huge room that I used for my studio, plus 1/2 an acre. That was a lot to take care of, and I often failed miserably at it. The space became too much for me to keep up with.
Moving Forward
Now that I am finally here and mostly settled-it has been a journey-getting to know the area, and starting up Song of Life again. Now that I am here in this 800 square foot apartment, I can focus on living more of a life than I did when I owned a huge home and ran a full time business, and I am very thankful for that. And, another great thing-it only takes me about 15 minutes to clean this apartment!
So, what is happening with Songs of Life? At first, i was hesitant to do anything as there are still costs involved with starting a business in another state. Honestly, I was a little burned out with running a business in the photography industry. It was very challenging (where I was living at the time) to be profitable in the market I was in. There were a lot of other factors, too, (covid being one of them that crushed my business due to mandates and shutdowns) so I was glad to be away from all that for awhile.
As time went on, and as I began my journey in the "Best Last Place" (I can certainly see why Montana is called this now!), the ache in my heart started gravitating toward creating beauty with my camera again. Not necessarily the posed, formal imagery of portraits (which I do love), but the more unscripted, raw, pure moments of life that are just as beautiful. Those are the real life moments that are often overlooked in portraiture. The ones that tell the story. Your Story.
Your Family's Love Story
I believe that every family has a love story much like couples do. And, I hope that I can now show you your love story with photography. A more life inspired form of photography that captures all of life's real moments, because I truly believe real life is beautiful. All the moments that might not necessarily be seen, but are just as important as taking a formal, posed portrait of your family smiling beautifully in front of the mountains. In the snow. With the sun glistening behind you. THAT would be a beautiful portrait!
But-what about your REAL life? The life you lead at home getting the kids ready to school, or just playing soccer in your back yard? Having dinner? Homeschooling? These are all moments that are every day, in a sense, but are just as important as a beautiful portrait by the mountains. It shows your story-your life just as it is unscripted. All the joys and sorrow together.
Many are saying now, "Well, I do not want to have a photo of my child crying because I said he could not jump off the roof." I say, why not? That is real life. You being a mom protecting your child. That is part of your love story together.
I have found that there are so many beautiful moments to photograph when I am with families, and those are the moments that will help tell the story of your life together.
What Songs of Life is Today
Songs of Life is now focusing more on a life inspired approach to photography, one that has a more "fly on the wall" approach to capture the story of you and your family. Spending an hour with you will give you beautiful imagery that might surprise you (did you know your child was drawing circles on the wall?) and make you cry. (Did you know your children were planning a surprise party for you to celebrate your birthday?) All the moments that you might now see will be front and center as your story unfolds. This is life. And it is real and beautiful.
And, of course, we will still offer typical portrait sessions, as we LOVE that as well. So, you can get the best of both worlds. Our mission is to help you see the love and beauty of your life and tell your family's love story whether that is through our documentary approach or a typical portrait session.
Real Life is Beautiful
You might notice that our site reads "www.reallifeisbeautiful.com" rather than www.songsoflifephotography.com. It was a difficult decision in some ways, but my heart was ringing with how beautiful real life truly is, so that is why you see that. You can still get to us from our former site (songsoflifephotography.com) and it will still be us, but some of the info is still a little attached to our former studio in Illinois so you might see that. For some reason, it just wants to hang on and not update. Oh well. Technology at it's finest!
We believe that REAL life is truly beautiful and we cannot wait to show you your family's love story and the beauty and love of your real lives.
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